WebSocket has been known as a Web-standard communication protocol that maintains an established communication connection thereby to eliminate the reconnection cost and achieve the reduction of delay. WebSocket is utilized in, for example, an application such as so-called smart remote control that transmits a control command from a terminal such as a smart phone to an apparatus connected to a network via a server thereby to control the apparatus. Since real-time properties are strongly required in such an application, it is demanded that the delay when a server forwards a message (such as a control command) from a terminal to an apparatus be reduced as much as possible.